November 1917 — The First Three AEF Casualties

November 1917 saw a harsh beginning to the Great War's fourth winter—The Battle of Passchendaele (Third Ypres) came to its brutal end on 10 November, after nearly four months of terrible losses on both sides and little gain. Ten days later, the Battle of Cambrai commenced, introducing the novel offense of tanks, 380 of them, against the German lines. The Bolshevik coup (October in Old Style) reset the course of Russia's history and that of the Great War. In France, on 3 November, the first three AEF soldiers were killed in Barthelémont serving with the 1st Division. 

 

  

 

Pvt Merle Hay, 16th Infantry, 1st Division, was born in Carroll County, IA, in 1896.

Pvt Thomas Enright, 16th Infantry, 1st Division, was born in Bloomfield, PA, in 1887. 

Cpl James Bethel Gresham, 16th Infantry, 1st Division, was born in McLean County, KY, in 1893.

 

In response to the beginning of the Civil War, the 16th Infantry was first formed as the 1st Battalion  of the 11th U.S. Infantry in May 1861. By 1864, the regiment was serving in General Grant's Overland Campaign. The next year, they helped disarm General Lee’s soldiers at Appomattox in April. 

Subsequent service in the Philippines and Mexico cemented the regiment in General Pershing's esteem, and he chose it to join the new 1st Division, which was to land in France in June 1917. From July to November 1917 the regiment trained in France under the radically new circumstances of the Great War. 

In 1918, through St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne, the 16th Infantry Regiment exemplified the 1st Division's new motto—“No mission too difficult, no sacrifice too great—Duty First!” The first three regimental casualties, a scant year before these monumental American offensives, became a powerful touchstone of the mission of the 16th Regiment, 1st Division, AEF. 

 

 Pvt Merle Hay

 

Cartoon published in the 8 November 1917, issue of the Des Moines Register; "Uncle Sam brings home the body." A copy of the cartoon would be placed on a monument to Hay in Glidden, IA.  

 

 

 Pvt Thomas Enright

 

Cpl James Bethel Gresham 

 

 

Monument erected in November 1918 to Hay, Enright, and Gresham in Barthelémont. Destroyed by the German Army in October 1940. 

After the war, all three soldiers' bodies were re-interred in the United States. 

 

Sources: Wikipedia; https://16thinfassn.org/history/regimental-history/